All that's left in mayor's bio is last chapter and what a chapter

Features
Birmingham Post-Herald
Friday, November 13,1987
C4
All that's left in mayor's bio is last chapter — and what a chapter
By Tabitha Slawson
Post-Herald Reporter
Biographer Jimmy Franklin has to wrap up the last
five years of Mayor Richard Arrington's political
career in a chapter with 20 pages or less, and he's not
looking forward to it.
To be sure, Franklin's undertaking is an ambitious
one, considering the issues he plans to cover.
Among them: the creation of the New South Coalition, the horse track, annexation, the 1985 council
elections, Arrington's relationship with presidential
hopeful Jesse Jackson, the bond issue, the proposed
water theme park, education, the controversy surrounding former Birmingham city schools Superintendent Walter Harris, last month's mayoral election and whether there has been a change in the
mayor's style of politicking during his career.
He also hopes to include a summary paragraph on
the future of race relations in Birmingham.
"Someone said the history of the world could be
written in a paragraph if you were a genius. I am
going to have some difficulty with doing all of that in
20 pages," said Franklin, an American and Afro
American history professor at Vanderbilt University.
In the book, which will be published by the University of Alabama Press sometime in early 1989, Franklin said he will use Arrington as the central character
to tell the history of the city, the state and of race
relations in Alabama.
The work — which Franklin began in 1981 with
Arrington's authorization and finished in late 1985 —
originally ended with Arrington's 1983 victory in the
mayoral race.
But with Arrington's third-term win in October,
Franklin said he wanted to add the chapter to make
the book more up-to-date. The tentative title for the
biography is "No Bombing in Birmingham: Richard
Arrington Jr. and His Times."
Franklin, 48, said he thought he could interest the
major commercial presses in the work, but he didn't
have any luck.
"They either did not think they could market enough
volumes or they did not publish books on living politicians — I guess they avoid a lot of controversy that
way." Franklin said.
'He's not a conventional politician in the sense that he's not a
back-slapper, super-extrovert-
ed-type person.
'But it's true that he's a politician to the extent that he knows
how to put together a coalition
by the force of a different kind of
personality.'
— Franklin
on Arrington
Biographer Jimmy Franklin
Mayor Richard Arrington
"I disagree with those who didn't think the work
would be very marketable. It got good reviews from
those presses."
Another problem he ran into with the commercial
presses was trying to sell the book or, his own rather
than through an agent. Many of those companies deal
exclusively with agents, he said.
Franklin has been working closely with Arrington
on the biography and has made numerous trips to
Birmingham to do interviews, read City Council
minutes and archive documents and visit black
churches.
In 1983, he rented an apartment on West End so he
could shadow the mayor and research the book. He
also has kept up with Arrington with a subscription to
a Birmingham newspaper.
"In many ways, it will be a look at the administration from the inside because I was there on the
spot," Franklin said.
Franklin has known the mayor sin<;e the early '60s,
when the two met at the University of Oklahoma
in Norman. Arrington was getting a doctoral degree in
zoology, Franklin in American history. The two
became fraternity brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha. Even
at that time, Franklin said Arrington was "low key,
even-tempered, poised and unflappable."
Franklin has followed Arrington's career since the
two met, but really began to pay attention when
Arrington won a City Council seat in 1971.
He said he was surprised to learn that Arrington
had gotten into politics.
"Not that he didn't have the ability to speak or
handle the issues, I just did not envision him as a
politician," Franklin said.
"Those that knew him thought he would go on to be
a great scholar. But he fooled us."
He said he decided to write the book because he
knew the significance of the city voting in a black
mayor, based on its past racial strifes — and because
he knew Arrington.
When Franklin first approached Arrington about a
book on his life, Arrington said he had reservations
about the project because he thought he might be too
young (he was 46 at the time). "Knowing what I know
about the man, he might have thought it was little
pretentious, because when I approached him, he had
only been in office a year," Franklin said.
Arrington could not be reached to discuss the book.
In an interview with.the Birmingham Post-Herald
in 1984, Franklin described the mayor as an "academic at heart ... not a conventional politician." He
said he believes that is still an accurate description
of Arrington.
"He's not a conventional politician in the sense that
he's not a back-slapper, super-extroverted-type per-
"But it's true that he's a politician to the extent
that he knows how to put together a coalition by
the force of a different kind of personality," Franklin
said.
"He's issue-oriented. Like many Southerners, he
engages in a highly personal" style of politics —
one on one. I think he's less effective one on two or one
on three."
In addition to his political style, the book also will
cover topics such as:
• Arrington's regret at not having participated
more fully in the civil rights movement.
• Major political issues.
• Personal matters such as his education,'marriages and religion.
• A look at the "man and his world," which Franklin considers one of the best chapters. It will contain
information about the mayor's values and philosophy.
Franklin said he is not sure what Arrington's next
political move will be, once he finishes his third
mayoral term.
But he said he believes Arrington will find it "very
difficult to return to education, even in an administrative rank.
"I believe he is a politican and I predict he'll find it
very difficult to turn his back on politics."
Franklin is the author of three other books, two
about blacks in Oklahoma history and one en prohibition in that state; all were published by a university press. He also has written articles for scholarly journals and has written more than 70 book
reviews, he said.

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Features
Birmingham Post-Herald
Friday, November 13,1987
C4
All that's left in mayor's bio is last chapter — and what a chapter
By Tabitha Slawson
Post-Herald Reporter
Biographer Jimmy Franklin has to wrap up the last
five years of Mayor Richard Arrington's political
career in a chapter with 20 pages or less, and he's not
looking forward to it.
To be sure, Franklin's undertaking is an ambitious
one, considering the issues he plans to cover.
Among them: the creation of the New South Coalition, the horse track, annexation, the 1985 council
elections, Arrington's relationship with presidential
hopeful Jesse Jackson, the bond issue, the proposed
water theme park, education, the controversy surrounding former Birmingham city schools Superintendent Walter Harris, last month's mayoral election and whether there has been a change in the
mayor's style of politicking during his career.
He also hopes to include a summary paragraph on
the future of race relations in Birmingham.
"Someone said the history of the world could be
written in a paragraph if you were a genius. I am
going to have some difficulty with doing all of that in
20 pages," said Franklin, an American and Afro
American history professor at Vanderbilt University.
In the book, which will be published by the University of Alabama Press sometime in early 1989, Franklin said he will use Arrington as the central character
to tell the history of the city, the state and of race
relations in Alabama.
The work — which Franklin began in 1981 with
Arrington's authorization and finished in late 1985 —
originally ended with Arrington's 1983 victory in the
mayoral race.
But with Arrington's third-term win in October,
Franklin said he wanted to add the chapter to make
the book more up-to-date. The tentative title for the
biography is "No Bombing in Birmingham: Richard
Arrington Jr. and His Times."
Franklin, 48, said he thought he could interest the
major commercial presses in the work, but he didn't
have any luck.
"They either did not think they could market enough
volumes or they did not publish books on living politicians — I guess they avoid a lot of controversy that
way." Franklin said.
'He's not a conventional politician in the sense that he's not a
back-slapper, super-extrovert-
ed-type person.
'But it's true that he's a politician to the extent that he knows
how to put together a coalition
by the force of a different kind of
personality.'
— Franklin
on Arrington
Biographer Jimmy Franklin
Mayor Richard Arrington
"I disagree with those who didn't think the work
would be very marketable. It got good reviews from
those presses."
Another problem he ran into with the commercial
presses was trying to sell the book or, his own rather
than through an agent. Many of those companies deal
exclusively with agents, he said.
Franklin has been working closely with Arrington
on the biography and has made numerous trips to
Birmingham to do interviews, read City Council
minutes and archive documents and visit black
churches.
In 1983, he rented an apartment on West End so he
could shadow the mayor and research the book. He
also has kept up with Arrington with a subscription to
a Birmingham newspaper.
"In many ways, it will be a look at the administration from the inside because I was there on the
spot," Franklin said.
Franklin has known the mayor sin